But Mr Carr said he had already called the 11am press conference
and, as he did to others yesterday, presented his retirement as a
fait accompli.

The deputy's shock is an illustration of how closely guarded a
secret was Mr Carr's retirement. There had been speculation for
months about him going, but recently the talk was more along the
lines that he would stay to fight until 2007, partly because no
candidate waiting in the wings came close to matching him in terms
of media performance.

According to Mr Carr, Sydney's "beautiful weather" over the
weekend was the ultimate catalyst. "Helena and I thought we could
actually enjoy a bit more of this weather and a bit more of
recreation in this weather."

But only two other people, the Premier said, were let in on the
secret before yesterday: his chief of staff, Graeme Wedderburn, who
had been with Mr Carr since his early days in opposition, and his
press secretary, Amanda Lampe. Asked when he told them, Mr Carr
asked, "Am I on oath?" - before saying it was at the weekend.

On Monday, Mr Carr held a news conference on the prospect of
random bag searches on public transport, but gave no hint of his
decision. Yesterday began early for him - at 2am, because that was
when he woke "knowing this was going to be an unusual day".

After calling Dr Refshauge, he rang the federal Opposition

Leader, Kim Beazley, who also expressed shock; the Victorian
Premier, Steve Bracks; and the Queensland Premier, Peter Beattie.
About 9.45am, he called the government whip, Gerard Martin, to tell
him what he was going to do and make sure arrangements were
satisfactory for caucus to meet to make a decision on the new
premier.

Then Mr Carr addressed staff at 10am, receiving a hearty round
of applause, rang some colleagues and called newspaper editors as a
"courtesy" before the news conference at Governor Macquarie Tower.
This had been announced inauspiciously on newsroom faxes just
before 10am as a "Press Conference".

Until now, even one of the leadership contenders, Carl Scully,
was still in the dark.

"I had a phone call and I was told to listen to the news so I
didn't get a huge amount of notice," Mr Scully said.

Likewise, Morris Iemma, the other minister officially to put his
hat in the ring for the leadership, found out the Premier was
standing down when he received a phone call while at Sydney Airport
"from someone within the party". Mr Iemma was about to board a
flight to Alice Springs for a health ministers' conference - a trip
he decided not to take after hearing the news.

Mr Carr supposed there had been an "undertow of speculation and
contemplation … But it was really last weekend that we
contemplated the timetable, the decision that Neville Wran reached,
as I recall, over a bottle of chardonnay. The challenge of when you
do go."

And the Carr media machine, so often resented by journalists for
its ability to control information, had kept it tight right until
the end.